The scoreboard at Citi Field says it all.Photo courtesy of Marc Levine/New York Mets

It's a moment John K. Filipowicz would have relished from a seat at Citi Field -- his son Joseph throwing the ceremonial first pitch at a Mets game.

On Wednesday night, Joseph did just that, but the honor was bittersweet -- he was pitching in memory of his father, his twin brother and all the others who died in the rampaging waters of Hurricane Sandy.

"It felt great. It's like a dream come true. It's just nice to honor my brother and father that way," Joseph said. I wish they were there watching me doing it. ... It was hard, but I know they were watching down on me."

John K. Filipowicz, 51, and his son, John C., 20, died in the basement of their 72 Fox Beach Ave. home in Oakwood Beach, holding each other in a final father-son embrace when the storm surge hit.

On Wednesday night, Joseph recalled, the Mets players offered encouraging words -- "Matt Harvey [the starting pitcher] told me to throw a heater for my brother and father." And the pitch itself? "It was over the plate but it was a little high," he said. "[Catcher] John Buck said a lot of people don't reach it. I was glad to hear that."

Joseph Filipowicz, 20, whose father and twin brother were killed in their Oakwood Beach home during Hurricane Sandy, throws the ceremonial first pitch. Marc LevinePhoto courtesy of Marc Levine/New York Mets

Joseph was joined on the field by his Uncle Neil, his sister, Cali, and his mother, Christine.

The pitch came about, Neil Filipowicz said, when he reached out to the Mets organization about taking Joseph to a game on his 21st birthday, April 27 -- the first birthday he won't spend with his twin.

"I was trying to take his mind off being home," he said.

When team officials got back to him, they extended the offer to throw the first pitch of Wednesday's game against San Diego.

"It's a nice gesture by them. It's one of my brother's and nephews' favorite teams," Neil Filipowicz said. The Mets also honored the first responders and volunteers working during the storm in a ceremony at the team's home opener Monday, donating 1,000 opening-day tickets to heroes of the storm.

More than five months later, the pain of their deaths hasn't dulled, Neil said. "The loss, it feels like yesterday. It just hasn't got better. Time hasn't healed any part of the wound at all."

Since the storm, he said, the family has been working through the recovery process -- gutting their home, taking out personal effects, and trying to learn more about a government buyout program for their devastated neighborhood.

The Jets have also honored the Filipowicz family and the victims of the storm, and in November, owner Woody Johnson reached out to John K. Filipowicz's widow, Christine, to offer his condolences.

If Joseph's father and brother were alive to see Wednesday's game, Neil said, "Forget it, they would be ecstatic. Little John would want to throw one with him."

The Mets held up their end of the bargain, triumphing by the score of 8-4 behind a stellar effort by Harvey. ---Follow @siadvance on Twitter